Congratulations to LaGrange County REMC apprentice lineman Cole Howe who has completed the Rural Electric Apprenticeship Program (REAP) and earned journeyman lineman status. REAP is a four-year program that includes intensive training through Indiana Electric Cooperatives, our statewide service organization. The program consists of 576 hours of classroom and skills instruction as well as 8,000 hours of on-the-job training. Upon completion of the program, Howe also earned an associate degree in applied science through Ivy Tech Community College. REAP covers multiple proficiencies that journeymen must master before graduating. These include climbing, underground, staking, and regulators among others.

Your cooperative also has other linemen who are completing, or will complete, the program. Apprentice lineman Owen Bowersox will finish his on-the-job training hours this spring, making him a journeyman lineman at that time. Apprentice lineman Atticus Klopfenstein is entering his final year of REAP and apprentice lineman Cole Harmes will be entering the program this month.

We would like to congratulate all four of these men on their commitment to maximizing their skills to be journeyman linemen.